


cats aren't afraid of height

by talonyth



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fear of Heights, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-18
Updated: 2015-07-18
Packaged: 2018-04-10 00:38:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4370465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which daichi finds out some cats do fear the height after all, dramatically so</p>
            </blockquote>





	cats aren't afraid of height

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt for this was 'hold my hand' and i'm glad nico held mine while writing this bc i combust at the mere thought of kurodai

He takes a deep breath, opens his eyes slowly to realize how incredibly high up he is. Daichi feels his breath getting stuck in his throat, his feet shuffling at the edges of the stone bridge, toes curling up in his shoes. Unlike Asahi, he never had a hang to imagine how he would die in the future but he can see it now, far too clearly for his tastes. Every fibre of his being struggles against standing there, up high Heaven knows how many metres, he doesn’t want to know. Who would if they were to fall in a mere few minutes. From up there, down. If the fall won’t kill him then certainly the stream of the river down below will. It’s raging, water crashing against the rocks so fiercely Daichi imagines to hear them crack a little every time.

Who would have thought he would find himself in such a situation in his life, his body shaking at the prospect of what is to come, of a fall and of the hope it would just end soon, as quickly as possible? Less even that he would spend a moment as crucial as this, perhaps the most crucial one in his meagre life, with Kuroo of all people? It almost makes him laugh, this turn of events.

Almost. If it weren’t for the realization that Kuroo isn’t just shaking. He’s a single tremor, from the tip of his ridiculous hair down to his toes. Shit. If Kuroo loses it now, Daichi is sure he will end up going down alone when they swore they would do it together. Kuroo doesn’t break his promises – but a frightened man’s heart is likely to break whatever rule he’s been living by.

“Don’t look down,” Daichi says, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible though he is sure he can’t convince Kuroo like this. “You better not chicken out on me.”

“Shut up,” and his voice is barely a breath, “like you have an idea how fucked up this is for me. I never meant for it to end like this.”

“Aren’t you being dramatic now? It’ll be over in a flash.” _I hope_ , but Daichi doesn’t voice it.

“Yeah, everything will be. I can’t believe how calm you are, Sawamura. What the fuck.”

For a second, Daichi’s eyes glance down, past the tips of his toes and _this is a really bad idea after all_. Best not to let it shine through.

“I guess this is my forte after all. Keeping a cool head in difficult situations.”

“Isn’t this the wrong time to underline your qualities? When you know this will end… I don’t want to do this,” Kuroo says and it is the most genuine thing Daichi has heard out of his mouth in the entire time he’s known him. It’s almost painful to listen to, frankly, but there is no other way now.

“The sooner we end this, the better.” He takes a very small and careful sidestep towards Kuroo and as they touch slightly, he notices how tense the other is. He will definitely stay up there frozen at this point.

“You’ve got to be kidding me… no way…”

“I can’t believe you always play it so cool and now, when it’s important…”

“Listen, this is—” Barely moving, just his head tilting towards Daichi and looking at him wide-eyed, he asks, “Wait. You… thought I was cool?”

“Huh?”

“Say it again, Sawamura!”

“I only said you were playing cool!”

“Please, come on…”

There is an urgency in his words Daichi would rather not regard but considering the situation and his need for Kuroo to calm down, he sighs, “You were the coolest when you weren’t trying to be.”

A little of the despair dissipates with every word until Kuroo seems slightly calmer, almost grinning like a fool again. “Oh Sawamura, that’s so kind of you to say.”

He could have passed on that sort of reaction and for a second, Daichi regrets having given him the satisfaction of hearing that but at the same time he feels like it was what Kuroo might have needed. What he might have needed as well. It makes everything seem perfectly normal, somehow. Almost.

Daichi takes another deep breath, deeper than the one before, watches a bit of the edge crumbling and falling down and he feels his knees going weak. He wishes he could truly keep as cool as he said he would.

“H-hey, say…” Kuroo starts and Daichi notices he is looking down, staring almost and it reminds him of the saying that if you stare at the abyss for too long, it will eventually stare back and swallow you whole. He hopes it doesn’t yet. They were supposed to go together.

Daichi turns his head to Kuroo and finds him to wear an oddly sheepish expression. It looks so off on a face usually covered by a smug grin but this isn’t a very normal situation they are in either. Perhaps being a little different is normal, then. “Um. C-Could you, maybe…”

“I’m not going to say that again.”

“No! I— Oh God,” Kuroo says after having jerked up too suddenly, parts of the edge of the bridge giving way again, shutting his eyes close out of reflex. The trembling is right back again, vibrations passed on to Daichi due to their proximity. So much for calming him down.

“What was it, Kuroo?”

The other doesn’t reply, panic keeping him frozen in place. He just simply shakes his head in stiff motions. “I… can’t do this…”

It would be out of place to go for a small slap on his back at this point, Daichi is at least decent enough in understanding as much. He wouldn’t want anyone to do that either when it could drive you right over the edge of a bridge.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to be scared of heights. Aren’t cats usually not? They land on their feet, after all.”

“Listen, this is definitely not the right fucking time for this, Sawamura.” Kuroo’s voice could as well cut the rocks underneath them. At least he hasn’t lost his fire yet. “I’d maybe appreciate your shitty attempts at joking more if I wouldn’t die in a few seconds— you know what, to hell with this, I am already dying, I don’t even need to jump. I am going to murder Bokuto, I will hunt his sorry ass down after I am dead. I’ll make his life a living hell.”

Daichi can’t help but snort and fears he might fall due to the sudden movement but his balance doesn’t betray him. “I know my words won’t calm you down, do you want me to say them anyway?”

“No. Keep them.”

“Anything else you want me to do before we go down?”

And with the most ridiculously fierce voice, Kuroo says, “Yeah, hold my hand, maybe.”

It takes Daichi a second to compute until he slowly nods. “That’s a fairly modest last request.”

“Will you do it now or not, I’m still dying inside.”

Daichi doesn’t reply but slips his fingers between Kuroo’s, both of theirs shaking together yet not as badly as before. His hand is cold, ice almost, both in temperature and in feeling. He rubs his thumb over the back of Kuroo’s hand slightly and evens his breath, Kuroo trying to do the same.

“Better?”

Kuroo breathes in sharply. “A little.”

“Are you ready?”

“No.”

“Neither am I. We better win against Bokuto next time so we don’t have to do his dumb ideas of a punishment anymore.”

“We won’t need to, I will kill him before that. Take back whatever I said about him being one of my best friends, he’s The Enemy. Bungee jumping, Sawamura. He fucking _knows_. I can’t believe I trusted him. I’m going to throw him out of the apartment when there’s a thunderstorm and laugh at him from the windows. If I don’t murder him before, Sawamura. I’m going to do it if I survive this now. I swear.”

“I didn’t know Bokuto was afraid of thunder.”

“He’s afraid the thunder will hit his perfectly spiky hair if he’s outside. As if he’s the highest point to be hit, ever. I hope it does next time, I mean he obviously intents to kill me too.”

“You’re aware we are secured.”

“Like I care, do you know how high up we are?”

“I have no idea, Kuroo. And I don’t think I need to know. Oh hey, by the way, can I tell you something?”

Kuroo turns his face to him just to meet Daichi grinning. Before he can ask, Daichi pulls down his hand and they dive down heads forward. Between curses and definitely not crying, Daichi is almost a little sad Kuroo let go of his hand midway – but honestly, having Kuroo clutch to him for his dear life as they hang down the cord, bobbing up and down repeatedly, he feels guilty for thinking he’s almost grateful to Bokuto for this opportunity. Almost. He considers hiding him the next time a thunderstorm comes.

**Author's Note:**

> i should apologize for the misleading but then again i consider some ppl might not even read this bc they maybe dropped it bc of the misleading start WELL FOR EVERYONE WHO HASN'T i wish i'd be sorry but i'm not this was fun to write, i hope it was as much fun to read!


End file.
